The Superior Express -

Several important days are included in the coming month of November.

As a youngster, I thought there was only one important day in the entire month of November, that being Thanksgiving Day. I liked Thanksgiving Day for a number of reasons. It would have been a good day, if for no other reason than I didn’t have to go to school. But there were other reasons, Thanksgiving and Christmas were the only two days of the year that my father closed his gasoline station. On Thanksgiving, we went to his parents’ home for a dinner which featured turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberries and fresh apple, mince or pumpkin pies. It was the one time each year when my father and his two brothers were together with their parents. I enjoyed listening to the conversations for his brothers had interesting lives.

Thanksgiving, was the first day each winter that I had my mother’s blessing to wear long underwear. While Grandfather Wrench wore long handles the year around, my mother had the cockeyed notion they shouldn’t be worn before Thanksgiving. She also thought straw hats should be worn only between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but that is a story I’ll tackle another time.

I now know there are other important days in November, two of which come on the first Sunday of the month.

Sunday is the day we fall back to Central Standard Time. Before going to bed Saturday night, we should set our clocks back one hour.

Sunday will also mark the 27th annual National Family Literacy Day. Experts in child development believe the more parents and grandparents are involved with reading, writing, talking and thinking with their children, the stronger their children’s language and literacy skills will be and those skills are key to success in many other areas.

I’m thankful I was exposed to reading as a pre-schooler. I was raised in a home that subscribed to multiple newspapers. Before I could read those papers, the adults in my life were reading them and various child’s story books to me.

The day I started to school, Grandfather Blauvelt took out a library card in my name and brought me a selection of books from the public library. After only one day of school, I couldn’t read them, but it was his way offering a learn to read incentive.

In later years, when his eyesight was failing, I had the opportunity to regularly read the daily newspaper to him.

The country school I attended subscribed to a rotating library. I was eager for the new selections to arrive and knew I had to read everyday because in a short time those books would be replaced by a new set.

For my ninth birthday, I got my very own book case. A piece of furniture I still have and use.

A former employee of this newspaper, Tom Zoellner, is among a small group of friends who suggest I write a book. I frustrate those friends when I say writing a book is not in my plans.

Perhaps I would feel different had I taken the advice offered more than 40 years ago by Lyman Cass, the son of a weekly newspaper publisher. He repeatedly suggested I keep notes about potential topics. Another friend, even offered to find an intern who would help organize the book.

Since his brief time working as a reporter for this newspaper, Zoellner has had many experiences and written seven books. Earlier this month he sent me his latest book, The National Road.

It is a collection of essays based upon his varied experiences.

Sunday afternoon I started reading the book. I haven’t found it yet but I expect someplace in the book he has something to say about his post college newspaper job as a reporter for The Superior Express. While he generally has spoken positively about his month in Superior, I’m anxious to see what he may have said.

While we used to associate literacy only with the printed word, today it may also apply to words preserved electronically.

Another writer from Tucson Ariz., Richard Gillman, has visited Superior several times. While here, he has held philosophical discussions with a number local residents.

His approach was much like that of Denis Boyles, the author of the book entitled Siuperior, Nebraska, The Common Sense Values of America’s Heartland. I thought we might eventually see a book based on Gillman’s interviews. Instead it appears the material he gathered is the basis for an internet page known as Our Common Purpose.

His goal for that page is to bridge the partisan divide by seeking our similarities rather than hammering on our differences.

The starting point is 10 principles to unite America. He describes the principles as modern-day ideals endorsed in national polling by large majorities of both Republicans and Democrats that look both to the past and to the future bringing to mind what we hold dear as Americans and at the same time challenging us to do better. His 10 Principles to Unite America are:

1. We are better united than divided.

2. Even with our flaws we have much to cherish.

3. Our great democracy is only as good as we make it.

4. Give us liberty though not to harm others.

5. We are a nation of laws that need to be equally applicable to all.

6. Equal rights for all, responsibilities for all.

7. Government at all levels needs to be better at what it does.

8. Our military stands strong to deter not to provoke.

9. New opportunities are needed in communities across the land.

10. Education is crucial to our future.

His three and one-half year quest led to four small towns. He said they were chosen because they are distinct from each other and each contributes something different to our nation’s fabric. In the four towns, Superior, Nebraska, Concord, Massachusetts, Ajo, Arizona, and Edgefield, South Carolina, he zeroed in on 14 individuals.

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Sunday evening Rita and I received a picture from our nephew and his family, residents of a rural Maryland community. Taken by the mother of the family, it pictured the children and their cat gathered around listening as Dad read a story. The caption indicated the nightly story time was the cat’s favorite time of the entire day.

If reading is important to a child’s development, what do you suppose it does for a cat?